Fort Frances Times Online Edition - May 15, 2019

Council's budget has been balanced and with it comes a small tax increase for property owners.

Town treasurer Dawn Galusha made a presentation to council during its regular meeting on Monday evening that revealed a 1.13 percent tax increase for residential properties.

On a $100,000 home this equates to $20.67 more being paid in property tax each year.

A local class is working hard to keep Rainy River and the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed free from pollutants.

Grade 8 teacher at Fort High, Jody Bonner-Vickers, and her class delivered a presentation during a council meeting on Monday about the Drain Stencil Program that's running for its third-consecutive year.

Construction season has returned and with it comes one-lane traffic for area residents coming and going via the east end of town.

Until the second week of June construction will be ongoing at the overpass, as highlighted by manager of Operations and Facilities Travis Rob at the town council meeting here Monday evening.

The community is working together to become better informed and better able to address the issue of substance abuse within the district.

A “Community Conversation on Substance Abuse” was hosted by the Substance Abuse Prevention Team (SAPT) at La Place Rendez-Vous last Wednesday to better inform parents, the general public, and staff of local organizations on the topic.

Borderland Pride revealed Friday the official event schedule for the second installment of the region's annual LGBTQ2 Pride festival.

This year's program has been branded PRIDE WEEK+, as a nod to inclusion and in recognition of the added events for the 2019 celebration.

June is “Seniors' Month” so the Fort Frances Senior Centre will be celebrating with a seniors' fair to be held on Thursday, June 6 at the centre.

An interesting day has been planned. The doors will open at 9 a.m. for check-in, coffee and socializing.

The fair will officially start at 9:30 a.m. with a welcome from Mayor June Caul.

The 49th-annual Manitou Fish Fry is returning to Rainy River First Nations this Friday (May 17).

The fish fry is hosted by the Rainy River First Nations' (RRFN) chief and council.

The event will start at 4 p.m. on the RRFN pow-wow grounds just north of Junction 11/71.

The community event has become a tradition and usually draws anywhere from 800-900 people.

Members of the Rainy River District Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would like to advise the public that they are working diligently with local stakeholders to increase the safety and security of the Scott Street area in Fort Frances.

Members of the OPP have been increasing police presence by actively conducting regular foot patrol.

Tom Bedard, Mar Fraczkiewicz and Jeff and Nicole Wall—all of Fort Frances—were among the $30 winners in the Rainy River District Mutual Aid Association for the week of May 5-11.

Other winners included Tom Kehler, Karen Laffier, and Sandy and Tom Morden (Atikokan), and Dan Racicot (Timmins, Ont.).

It started out as a promising night offensively for the Manitou T-Birdies.

One half-inning changed all of that.

It's been another great start to the season for the Muskie boys' soccer team.

After defeating both the visiting Dryden Eagles and Kenora Broncos by a combined 7-0 total in the NorWOSSA season-opening games last Wednesday, the black-and-gold kept that momentum rolling as they battled to a third-place finish at the Broncos Challenge Cup tournament in Kenora over the weekend.

THUNDER BAY, Ont.—The SIJHL, in partnership with Hockey Northwestern Ontario, wrapped up the initial staging of the HNO U15 development camp held in Thunder Bay over the weekend.

Having a chance to medal is right where the Muskie girls' soccer team wanted to be over the weekend.

They fell just short of that goal, falling 2-0 to the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints in the bronze-medal game of the Broncos Challenge Cup tournament on Saturday afternoon in Kenora, but Muskie head coach Sara Roach was still happy with the effort her squad put forth.

THUNDER BAY, Ont.—Two long-time leaders in the game of golf, Golf Ontario and Golf Manitoba, have announced exciting news to begin the 2019 golf season.

On May 11, “A Celebration of Golf in Northwestern Ontario Event” will take place at the Valhalla Inn beginning at 12:45 p.m.

It's been a good start to the season for the Rainy River Owls' girls' and boys' soccer teams and they'll be looking to keep that momentum going heading into today's and tomorrow's NorWOSSA 'A' games in Red Lake.

A total of eight Florida State Seminole student-athletes were selected for the 2019 All-ACC Academic Swimming and Diving Teams, which was announced by the league office back on May 1.

Full bellies and lighter wallets, all in the name of conservation.

The 35th-annual Ducks Unlimited (DU) banquet and auction held Friday night at the Fort Frances Curling Club was an enjoyable endeavour for all once again.

About 200 people packed the local rink to help raise roughly $32,000 for the Fort Frances branch of DU.

Jennifer Horton showed off the new Borderland “Pride Mart" display yesterday at her Scott Street business, Curvy Chick. Horton brought the market back this year to support PRIDE WEEK+ in the district, and starting this week is selling a variety of Pride gear like T-shirts, rainbow flags and other swag until June 9 (some items at the market are cash only).

Kaylee Heyens, left, handed a straight-off-the-grill burger to Colin Jones during the Children's Wellness BBQ put on by Weechi-it-te-win Family Services last Friday. The event was held in recognition of “Children's Mental Health Week,” and offered visitors information pamphlets and a hoodie, as well as burgers, hot dogs and cake.

Best-selling author Sigmund Brouwer channelled his inner “story ninja" at the Fort Frances Library last Wednesday evening. The library will be collaborating with Brouwer to run the "Story Ninja Book Club” this summer. The program is a series of videos and exercises from Brouwer to help kids get excited about reading and writing.

A group of Grade 8 students played ice-breaker games in the large gym at Fort Frances High School for its Grade 8 Day yesterday. Grade 8 students from schools across the district were at the high school to meet future classmates and teachers, get familiar with the rooms and clubs at FFHS, and become more comfortable with the prospect of becoming Grade 9 students in September.

Nancy and Norman Cain smiled as they enjoyed a tasty meal at the Emo-Devlin United Churches' fish fry at the Devlin Hall on Saturday. This is the first fish fry the churches have hosted together at the hall and all of the funds raised through the event will go towards supporting the dioceses.

The Borderland District Orchestra took to the stage with the Borderland Community Orchestra for their Mother's Day concert at the Townshend Theatre on Sunday.

Manitou T-Birdies' third baseman Katie Sadewasser loaded up to make the throw to first after fielding a soft grounder during her squad's 19-2 loss to the Fort Frances Her-icanes in the Rainy River District Women's Fastball League season-opener Monday night at VanJura. The three-time defending champion Her-icanes flexed their offensive muscles early and often in the lopsided win.

Christy Herr from the Northwestern Health Unit spoke about meth use and opioids during the Community Conversation on Substance Abuse held at Place Rendez-Vous last Wednesday.

Stomper Taw Connors took a moment to pose with Royal Canadian Legion Br. #99 first vice-president Cindy Westover, left, and second vice-president Char Hyatt on Saturday evening in Emo. The son of Canadian legend Stompin' Tom Connors performed a tribute show to his father before a sold-out crowd at the Legion. Taw Connors will be returning there on Oct. 19. Tickets will be available Sept. 1.

Nick Hahkala kicked the ball away from his Dryden Eagles' opponent during the second half of the Muskie boys' soccer team's 4-0 win in the NorWOSSA regular season-opener last Wednesday morning at Fort High.

Ren (Macarthur Wilde), left, and Ariel (Brianna Eldridge) sang “Almost Paradise" during "Footloose the Musical.” The musical closely follows the plot of the 1984 film, where city boy Ren moves from Chicago to a small town where dancing has been outlawed and he must gather the support of local teens to teach the town to accept dancing again.

Sturgeon Creek School students performed a number from “Mary Poppins Jr.” during a performance last Friday evening in Barwick. The play ran last Thursday and Friday.

Ariel Moore (Brianna Eldridge) was “Holding Out For a Hero" at The Burger Blast restaurant during the opening night of Fort High's production of "Footloose the Musical” last Wednesday at the Townshend Theatre.

As he has done for many years, auctioneer Telford Advent of Riverbend Auction Services entertained those on hand and got them into the spirit of bidding on the plethora of items that were up for grabs during the live auction portion of the night at the 35th-annual Ducks Unlimited banquet and auction Friday at the Fort Frances Curling Club.

Ariel Moore, played by Brianna Eldridge, left, tried to have a conversation with her father, Rev. Shaw Moore (Jaykob Ryll), during a scene from the opening night performance of “Footloose the Musical” last Wednesday at the Towshend Theatre.

Muskie rookie goalkeeper Jersey Masson may have been a touch late in stopping this Dryden Eagles' goal but she buckled down and helped Fort High secure a 3-2 win in the NorWOSSA regular season-opener last Wednesday morning at Fort High.

Donald Young School ECE Laurel Armstrong, left, held out a garbage bag for students to fill on Friday afternoon. The students worked together to help clean up their school yard and community.

Various Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors were recognized for their contributions to this year's event at the 35th-annual Ducks Unlimited banquet and auction held Friday night at the Fort Frances Curling Club.

OTTAWA — Canada’s annual inflation rate picked up its pace in April ‚Äî a month that saw stronger price pressures from gasoline in provinces that have new carbon-pricing systems.

VANCOUVER — Wild salmon with lemon dill sauce, blueberry soup and bone broth may be high-end restaurant meals but they’re also on the menu at some Canadian hospitals aiming to meet recovering patients’ nutritional and cultural needs.

A popular selling point for electric vehicles is the notion that you never have to stop for gas. Your “gas station” is in your garage simply plug in your vehicle to charge it overnight.

But what if you live in an apartment? Or park somewhere without a plug? How practical is it to own an electric vehicle if you can’t charge it at home?

NEW YORK — Taking the hours-long journey to what is believed to be the deepest point mankind has visited in any ocean was a complicated one, and for Victor Vescovo, it meant being constantly on the alert as he monitored his state-of-the-art vessel.

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Sherpa climber Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest on Wednesday for a 23rd time, breaking his own record for the most successful ascents of the world’s highest peak.

Rita reached the summit with other climbers Wednesday morning and all of them were reported to be safe, said Gyanendra Shrestha, a Nepalese government official at the mountain’s base camp.

Tonight will see clouds and a couple of showers, with a low of eight C (46 F).

Tomorrow will see low clouds and be cooler, with a high of 14 (57) and a low of two (36).

Friday will be mostly cloudy with a high of 13 (55) and a low of two (36).